Dental disease as an indicator of ecological factors in medieval skeletal populations from Slovakia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2002 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | EAA Biennial Books |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://eaa.elte.hu/activities_bb.html |
| Field | Applied statistics, operation research |
| Keywords | Odontology; paleopathology; ecology; Middle Ages; Central Europe |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This paper summarizes results of previous odontological research into the medieval (7th–15th c. A.D.) populations in Slovakia and presents conclusions concerning the diachronic and geographical differences in their dental disease. The dental remains from 16 cemeteries were used. The remains were divided into four chronological (Avar Period, Great-Moravian Period, Hungarian Conquest Period, Arpadian Period) and two geographical groups (east Slovakia, southwest Slovakia). The dental data, such as caries, ante-mortem tooth loss (AMTL), caries intensity, caries frequency and others, were compiled from more than 1,000 adult dentitions. The statistical analyses revealed only two kinds of significant differences within the data compared. Both differences related to females: 1) tooth-count caries rate (%C) in east and southwest Slovakia (with higher rate in east), 2) individual-count caries-AMTL rate (%indCE) across diachronic groups (showing a significant quadratic [parabolic] trend with ascending portion from Hungarian Conquest Period to Arpadian Period). Furthermore, statistical analysis of the female data showed significant quadratic trend in caries intensity (I-CE) and caries frequency (F-CE), suggesting an increase in their prevalence from the Great-Moravian to the Arpadian Period. However, most of the data obtained indicate that due to both similar ecological conditions and subsistence activities the diet of the medieval populations investigated did not substantially vary. |
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